7 Great Female Italian Winemakers You Should Know

Uncompromising and brilliant, Foradori has run her family’s estate in Trentino since she was 20. Her work with the local Teroldego grape has helped bring international attention to this smoky variety; she was also one of Italy's early adopters of the biodynamic approach to grape farming.

Cinzia Merli2014 Bolgheri Rosso ($32)

The vintner-owner of Le Macchiole estate, Merli runs one of the best properties in Tuscany's Bolgheri region (more famous for names such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia). Generally reticent, she prefers to let her long-aging reds do the talking—which they do, brilliantly, year after year.

Laura Bianchi2011 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva ($35)

The 500-acre Castello di Monsanto estate in Chianti Classico was the first to produce a single-vineyard cru, its renowned Il Poggio bottling. Bianchi, whose family founded the property in 1962, started helping in her family's Chianti vineyards at age seven; today she's both the winemaker and the proprietor.

Alessia AntinoriNV Montenisa Franciacorta Brut ($35)

Piero Antinori's three daughters all work in the family business; Alessia's focus is on winemaking. Right now she oversees the Montenisa estate in Franciacorta.

Arianna Occhipinti2013 Occhipinti Siccagno Nero d'Avola ($45)

A young Sicilian star, Occhipinti organically farms more than 30 acres of vines, from which she makes a range of individualistic cuvées with native grape varieties.

Maria Teresa Mascarello2013 Bartolo Mascarello Barbera d'Alba ($50)

When the legendary Bartolo Mascarello passed away, many people assumed he was irreplaceable. But his daughter has proved them wrong, making wines as classically structured and formidably complex as her father's were.